Word's Can't Be That Strong
by kellsmarie
Summary: Alternate ending to Didn’t We Almost Have It All? George finally arrives at the church to find Izzie still waiting.


A/N: After the Grey's Anatomy finale, I'm not really sure what to think. While I loved every tantalizing minute of it, Shonda yet again has me so enthralled that I don't even want to wait a week, let alone until September. So, I'm doing what I always do in this situation: Writing my own ending. This is the way the episode should've ended, since it seems to me that the love triangle never got a close. So, this is that missing scene, or what I could only hope was the missing scene of the season three finale. I picked a song that I could actually see on the show this time. It's Fresh Feeling by The Eels, a personal favorite of mine. Please review if you do read, comments are always appreciate. Thanks in advance.

_You don't have a clue  
What it is like to be next to you  
I'm here to tell you  
That it is good  
That it is true  
_

Izzie stayed in that same pew in that same church for four hours. She stayed after Meredith announced that the wedding had been called off and that the guests should depart. She stayed after said guests had all left the vicinity, puzzled by the sudden turn of events. She stayed after Preston's mother left in tears and after Cristina's mother was assured she was in good hands. (She may have laughed to herself by how easily she left as well, not so concerned about her own daughter after all.) She stayed while Meredith relayed the events to Izzie, Callie, and Derek while Cristina disappeared into the bathroom to wash her face. She stayed when Meredith escorted Cristina from the church as she mumbled under her breath about how this wasn't supposed to happen, it wasn't supposed to go this way. She even stayed after Callie's pager went off, calling her back to the hospital when the fourth mountain climber began to seize. And when those four hours were up, she was finally rewarded for her sit-in on that pew in that empty church when she got her first glimpse of his deep blue irises.

He looked tired, she noted to herself as his eyes widened just noticeably in shock, glancing around the room and blinking a few times just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He moved tiredly once the shock wore off and as he slid into the pew beside her. He sounded tired when he sighed to himself, running a hand through his tousled reddish brown hair, looking straight ahead instead of back at her. Izzie thought that this was the moment she was waiting for, George O'Malley's fatigue could only be due to the strenuous planning he endured to come up with the easiest way to leave Callie and the perfect way to confess his feelings to her. Unfortunately he had other ideas when he finally spoke, his hollow, unattached voice resonating inside the church. "Where's Callie?" And before Izzie knew what she was doing, she had turned to him, slapping him across the face.

It was a slap worthy of Thatcher Grey, leaving the red imprint of her tiny hand on his cheek while he just sat there stunned, unable to say a word to her. She too had pulled her own hand back to cover her mouth, her big brown eyes now filled with worry and compassion, and not the anger she had felt just moments before. Her thoughts came out in a jumble, nowhere near as coherent as she wanted them to be. "Oh my god, George… I didn't mean… I'm so… Are you… okay?"

_Birds singing a song  
Old paint is peeling  
This is that fresh  
That fresh feeling_

"Umm… oww…" he responded a minute later, his hand resting to cradle his already slightly swollen jaw, surprised by the powerful slap the beautiful blonde beside him had. And why he had received the brunt of that slap, he wasn't exactly sure. He sat there for a minute musing over this sudden turn of events, rubbing his sore jaw line, and trying to figure out what his next move should be. The long dramatic, heartfelt speech about the monumental change he had gone through during the course of this day seemed wrong now, if he was going to receive another slap in return. Maybe Izzie would even aim higher and give him a nice black shiner around his eye…

But Isobel Stevens had other plans as her solace melted away, her fury returning as she jumped up from the pew, feeling the effects of her four hour sit-in almost immediately. She ignored it though as she spoke to him, her hands resting on her hips, and he had to admit that he was slightly intimidated by the fact that she was now looming over him. Before he had a chance to voice his opinion about the situation, she had continued on. "You know what? I'm not sorry about that. In fact, I think you rightfully deserved that. That was for agreeing to start a family with Callie and not mentioning it to me, who's supposed to be your best friend. And that's for sleeping with Callie in the freaking hospital only to turn around and let me confess my feelings to you aloud and in the damn locker room. And that's for making me hopeful, for thinking that you may have changed your mind still, and then letting it crash down after I've been waiting here, for you, for hours." She crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned back, no longer right in his face. As she finally exhaled, the tiny strands of blonde hair framing her face blew just slightly and he realized in that instant that he wanted her even more. Angry Izzie Stevens was a _major _turn on. Again, she caught him off guard as she muttered to herself before collapsing back down on the wooden bench beside him. "You're lucky I just slapped you once."

_Words can't be that strong  
My heart is reeling  
This is that fresh  
That fresh feeling_

He bit back his laughter as he watched her for a minute before saying anything in response. The way her arms moved with each anger-filled breath she took, the way her bottom lip pouted out just slightly, the way she pretended to stare straight ahead while stealing glances out of the corner of her eye. When he was finally satisfied, knowing that she really wasn't as furious with him as she appeared then, he slid a little closer, leaning forward. "Can I talk now?" He received a small nod as she glanced down to her feet, which he realized for the first time since he arrived there were bare, and it brought a small smile to his lips. "And if I ask another question, will I get slapped?" His smile faded when he saw the deathly glare she sent him, and he swallowed hard. "What happened? Why are we the only ones in the church?"

Izzie sighed, sitting up straighter in the pew as she dismissed his question with a wave of her hand as if brides were left at the altar every day. "It got called off. There was no wedding."

George's eyes widened again when she finally met his gaze again, letting his startling blue eyes leave her breathless before quickly looking back down to her painted pink toenails. "I thought it was Meredith's job to make sure Cristina went through with it…"

_Try  
Try to forget what's in the past  
Tomorrow is here  
_

Izzie nodded again, biting her bottom lip just lightly as she responded quietly. "But no one was supposed to make sure that Burke didn't back out at the last minute."

"Oh." Izzie nodded again, and he sat back against the hard wood of the church pew, shifting in an attempt to get comfortable which proved impossible a minute later. He really did admire her for staying this long, especially if she was this uncomfortable. It was another minute before he spoke again, his voice just as soft as she had been. "Can you please tell me where…"

Izzie sighed as she stood up from the pew again, walking to the end of the cramped aisle between the two pews before returning to stand a few feet away from where he was seated. "Callie got called back to the hospital. Listen, George. I'm tired, I'm hungry, my feet hurt like hell, I can't breathe in this dress, and I've spent four unnecessary hours in a church. I'm sure that Callie would love to see you at the hospital, and I'd really love to go home, change into sweats, and eat that quart of ice cream that's in the freezer in front of the TV for the rest of the night. So, can we please do the whole "We're better off as friends" speech later?"

_Love,  
Orange sky above lighting your way  
There's nothing to fear_

Her voice was just slightly pleading with him, but her beautiful brown eyes didn't hide her disappointment in their pain-filled expression. He didn't say anything, so she took that as a consent and turned to leave, but it was his hand on her wrist that made her stop, her own face showing her surprise as she spun back around. His voice was steady and unwavering, and it shocked him more than anything else in that moment. "I don't want to see Callie right now. Just give me a minute, okay?" She nodded, looking slightly dazed as she dropped down beside him. Both of them were silent for a long time before he finally spoke, his voice seeming much too quiet in the empty chapel.

"First of all, I didn't come here for Callie, I was just surprised to not see her here. And secondly, I didn't have sex with Callie today in the hospital. I agreed to having a baby, but that's it. She was just trying to make you upset for some reason." He ran his hand through his hair again as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Which is suddenly making this much easier…" he muttered under his breath, and for the first time since he arrived, Izzie felt slightly hopeful.

He stood up from the pew again, fidgeting slightly with the sleeve of his dark suit, walking the same path she had in that same aisle multiple times before stopping directly in front of her. He surprised her again as he knelt down in front of her, placing his hands gently on her knees, and through the many layers of her dress, Izzie felt chills. Again, his voice was calm, soft, and soothing when he started again. "Iz, you told me that if I wanted to save my marriage, you would help me. You would stay my best friend and you would ignore those feelings that you felt so strongly because that's what friends do. And it made me really think." Izzie swallowed hard as she listened to him, nodding meekly in response. Wherever he was going with this, it didn't sound promising at all anymore. His eyes stayed even with hers as he started again, either not seeing her desire to not have this conversation or ignoring it altogether. "If you were the one I so stupidly rushed into a marriage with, if you were the one who had my last name, and I had made a similar mistake with Callie, I wouldn't have to think twice about telling you. You'd be mad with me, you'd probably slap me across the face again, but I'd tell you. And then, you would give me that same option, you would tell me that you were willing to salvage what was left of our relationship or you would support me in my decision to start something new with Callie. But Callie's Callie, and you're Izzie Stevens. You're two completely different people who I've connected myself with, accidentally or on purpose, I'm not sure. But it happened. And you were right in your thinking before, we have to face this head on."

_Birds singing a song  
Old paint is peeling  
This is that fresh  
That fresh feeling_

He paused for a minute now to recollect his thoughts, catch his breath as she sat on the edge of the pew now, hanging on to every word that left his full lips. "And so I am now, I'm going to try to fix this. So, I'm going to start by apologizing to you. I owe you so many apologies right now, I couldn't even know where to begin, but there's one that I really need to say. I lied to you earlier, I failed my intern exam."

Her sad brown eyes were wide and full of fear as she stared back at him, still processing this new fragment of information. "What… What does that mean?"

He sighed to himself as he shrugged his shoulders as nonchalantly as possible, not wanting her to know that he had been asking himself that same question all day, well, since he had opened his results. "It means that I repeat my intern year or I realize that I really am 007 and I don't belong in the intern program, and I walk away. That's not important now though. The important thing is, when I saw that score, I wanted to tell you. You're the only person in the world I wanted to talk to about it. But you had to get to the church with Meredith and Cristina, and everyone was listening there in the locker room, it just didn't feel right. But I couldn't tell Callie about it, she wouldn't understand. She would probably be ashamed of me, and I still don't know how I'm going to tell her, but I wanted to tell you more than anything. The only reason I didn't show up was because I was talking to Bailey about it, making sure I didn't have any other options. And this want, this desire to tell only you has got to mean something."

_Words can't be that strong  
My heart is reeling  
This is that fresh  
That fresh feeling_

Izzie waited breathlessly, her own heart pounding in her chest as she sat there, nodding softly in response to what he had said again. He looked back down to her feet again now, waiting a minute before speaking, his voice sounding different this time, more somber in a way. "I agreed to having a baby with Callie because I don't love her. And I know that it makes no sense at all, but it did to me when I said that. At that time, I still thought that you felt that our night together was just sex, that it was a mistake. So, I thought that if I agreed to a baby, then I would have someone in my life that I could still love unconditionally and that they would love me back in the same way. But… Talking to you this afternoon changed all that. You were right when you said that we were fooling ourselves, but it wasn't that it meant something more. It was the fact that we were trying to convince ourselves that we were too drunk to know what we were doing. Sure, we both had the hangovers, and I couldn't remember what happened, but we weren't too drunk to remember a condom. We weren't too drunk to remind the other that we couldn't wake up Alex or Meredith and Derek. And I wasn't too drunk to miss the way you whispered that you loved me when you laid in my arms afterwards. And I hope that you weren't too drunk to hear me whisper back that I loved you too. Because I meant it then, and I mean it now."

Before he could continue on, Izzie had vaulted herself out of the pew and into his arms, knocking him back to sit against the back of the pew in front of them instead, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck. He laughed softly to himself as his hands moved up and down her back slowly, loving the feeling of having her in his arms again. He enjoyed the silence for a minute before gently pushing her back to meet at eye level again, his voice serious. "You are truly my best friend, Isobel Stevens. You're the person I confide in, you're the person I can always count on to give me an answer, you're the person that can always make me laugh when I've hit rock bottom, you're the person who's seen me at my worst and still puts up with me, and you're the person I love. I'm optimistic too, and I'm hopeful, and I want to make this work, even if I'm me and you're you. I want all those things you want, but more than anything else, I want you."

She didn't know what was happening for a minute when he kissed her, softly at first but it quickly escalated into the most passionate kiss she had ever received in her life. When she finally could no longer wait to satisfy her need for oxygen, she pulled back, her own expression completely serious. "You do realize that we're in a church, right?" Receiving a nod and a small chuckle from him in response, she gave him a soft smile in response, moving to sit in his lap instead of beside him on the hard tile floor. Her dress pooled over both of their laps and onto the floor as she wrapped her arms around his neck again, forcing him to look her way. "So… you seriously want to start a relationship with me?"

_Some people are good  
Babe in the 'hood  
So pure and so free  
I'd make a safe bet  
You're gonna get whatever you need_

He nodded, running his own hands up and down her sides in a loving manner. "Seriously."

She nodded, biting her bottom lip in response as she tried to make her feelings come out in a complete sentence. "But… Where do we go from here?"

This time, this phrase wasn't a statement, it was a question, and this time he knew his answer without a doubt. He took in a deep breath before starting, his eyes staying on the intricate beading of her gown a minute longer before snapping up to meet her own. "Well… I'm going to talk to Callie first. I'm going to tell her the truth about that night, and I'm going to tell her that I think it's best for both of us if we separate. We rushed into things, and we made a mistake. And then… I don't know. I'll find a place of my own, or I'll see if Alex is looking for a roommate, which isn't likely… But we take things slow. We move one step at a time, and we make sure that this is both what we want."

_Words can't be that strong  
My heart is reeling  
This is that fresh  
That fresh feeling_

She interrupted him again this time as she shook her head, biting down on her lip harder. "I'm sure, this is what I want. It's what I've always wanted."

George smiled back in response, giving a small nod as he leaned in to kiss her once more. "Good, it's what I've always wanted to."

They stayed on the floor of the church for a long time, talking through the days and weeks to come, intricately planning each revelation minute by minute to ensure that they would do this accurately and in the most efficient way humanly possible. Their painstakingly slow planning seemed fool proof, but only the evening to follow would prove them effective. Until then, she stayed in his laps and he continued to steal kisses every so often. It felt good to finally be together, to be open about their feelings. Besides, they were George and Izzie, they were best friends even after all they had been through, and nothing was going to change that. Now, that had to count for something.


End file.
